354 THE MOTHS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



have been reared during the past year or two. Unfortunately 

 the caterpillar is much infested by parasites, and comparatively 

 few escape attack. Notes on the life history of this moih, by 

 the Hon. N. Charles Rothschild, Mr. Eustace Bankes, and Dr. 

 Chapman, are published in the Transactions of the Ejitomo- 

 logical Society of London for 1906 (Part IV., pp. 471-482). 



Most of the known localities for the species are in Kent, but 

 it has also been found in Surrey, Dorset, Gloucester, Hert- 

 fordshire (Tring district), and Northamptonshire (Oundle). 

 Possibly it will be discovered in other parts of the country. I 

 am indebted to Mr. L. W. Newman, of Bexley, for the specimen 

 figured on Plate i. Fig. i. For the caterpillar mine in stem of 

 Vibja-niwi (Plate 152, Figs. 2, la) my thanks are due to Mr, 

 Rayward, who kindly sent me a living pupa, from which the 

 moth duly emerged, but, I regret to add, escaped from the box 

 in which the stick containing the chr^'salis was kept. 



Newman, in 1833, described this species as Trochilium 

 allantiformis, and in 1842 it was figured by Westwood and 

 Humphreys as T.andj'enifornie. It is distinguished from Sesia 

 tipuliformis by the two yellow belts of the body (the first some- 

 times indistinct) and the orange-yellow tuft in the blue-black 

 tail ; on the underside of the body there is a broad yellow band 

 on the fourth ring, sometimes extending to the fifth and sixth. 



Currant Clearwing {Sesia tipuliformis\ 



In this species the body is narrowly belted with yellow, 

 usually four belts in the male and three in the female ; the tail 

 tuft is black in both sexes. Tne outer marginal border of the 

 fore wings has a bronzy tinge, due to orange patches between 

 the veins. (Plate 154, Figs. 56)6$.) 



The caterpillar lives in the stems and shoots of black and red 

 currant bushes ; it feeds on tke pith, and works its way down- 

 wards. When full grown about May, it gnaws an outlet to the 



